Mexico needed 120 minutes plus stoppage to earn their spot in the 2015 World Cup. El Tri was held to a 2-2 tie by the underdog Soca Princesses during regulation, but Mexico’s experience and quality showed in extra time as they dominated the 30 minutes eventually winning 4-2 to force Trinidad to play a home and away playoff series for Ecuador to earn a spot for Canada 2015.
Leonardo Cuellar rested nearly half of his regular starters for Mexico’s semifinal match on Friday versus the United States. Understandably, he recognized that El Tri had very little chance of upsetting the reigning Olympic champions who in September won two friendlies against his team with a 12-0 combined scoreline.
It was evident that the rest served Cuellar’s attackers well, particularly Monica Ocampo who was terrorizing Trinidad’s back line. Veronica Corral and Sandra Mayor looked equally as threatening and it was that duo that finally broke the stalemate in the 24th minute as Corral sent the ball to Mayor who did well to create a bit of space before turning and blasting her shot past the outstretched arms of Trinidad goalkeeper Kimika Forbes.
Though Mexico had more dangerous attacks in the first half, Trinidad managed to spend far more time in the attacking third than they mustered in the semifinal match against Costa Rica. Mexico’s backline not only looked disorganized, as it has for much of the tournament, but several players looked a bit outpaced by Trinidad’s quick footed attacking players.
Trinidad became a bit more adventurous offensively in the second half, pushing their attacking players further up the pitch. Those efforts paid dividends in the 57th minute as Kennya Cordner slid onto a cross from Ahkeela Mollon to equalize for Trinidad.
The Trinidad players celebrated the goal in spectacular fashion and even on bench player had to be asked to leave the playing area by a referee. Almost immediately after play resumed Mexico found themselves nearly regaining the lead as Trinidad appeared to still be thinking about Cordner’s goal.
Trinidad took the lead in the 79th minute when Mariah Shade poked the ball past Pamela Tajonar after a deflection kept the ball just in front of the Mexico goal. Once again, Trinidad celebrated their goal in dramatic fashion. And once again, Mexico seized on the lack of focus by charging down field. This time Mexico capitalized on the opportunity as Ocampo connected with a perfectly placed cross from Mayor to bring Mexico level at 2-2 with 20 minutes to play.
After playing 120 minutes and going to PKs on Friday, it wasn’t surprising to see Trinidad deflate in extra time. Mexico completely dominated the 30 minute period. The first goal of the period came in the 104th minute as Corral slipped behind a Trinidad defender, trapped the ball sent into the box and got of a shot at point blank range to give Mexico a 3-2 lead.
Corral added an exclamation point to the victory with her goal in the 106th minute essentially guaranteeing her team the win and a berth to the World Cup.
Meanwhile, Trinidad will face an uphill path to their potential World Cup berth as they will face Ecuador in home and away series in November.